Floating anchor nut assembly with flange construction to minimize heat transfer



Aug. 9, 1960 INVENTORS. DAN/EL K SING an BY ALBERT BANA s ATTORNEYS.

' FLOAT NG ANCHDR-NUT EMB W H 'ELANGE' CONSTRUCTION TO" a 7 HEAT Dn ielS na Qre, and Alb s, o a a',

.ya s no I e Air a t pq fi m hea lield,.N.Y.

Filed Jant 214; 19 57, Sen-No. 636,086-

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l part.

' Still another object is to provide the foregoing in a felativelsimple, inexpensive and'highly dependable and long lasting construction.i A ng' anchor nut device constructed "in acco'rd 'fthe instantinvention is characterized by the pro;

1'1 of a; base member'having opposite .end .tab portio'ns adapted forattachment to a support and a raised intermediate portion mounting ananchor nut movable relative .thereto lengthwise of thedevice the nutbeing held against rotation and adapted to receive an anchoring2,918,316 Patented Aug. 9, 196.9

ice.

chor nut devices l to suppo'rts 2, and this is accomplished by theinstant invention without sacrificing strength, as follows:

In the presently preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing the floating anchor nut device comprises a base member formed ofsuitable material to provide a pair of end tab portions 6 and anintermediate raised spacer portion comprising side wall portions7 and atop wall portion 8; The base member is transversely substantially flatthroughout with end tab portions '6 and the major part of side wallportions 7 being mechanically reinforced by marginal flanges 9 and withtop wallportion 8 being mechanically reinforced by marginali flanges 10;

The opposed end tab portions 6 are adapted to be: secured .to support 2,as by rivets 11 or other fasteners. passing therethrough and through thesupport, and the raised medial portion comprising side wall portions 7and top wall portion 8 carries a floating anchor nut 12 held againstrotation therein while'being permitted lengthwise movement relative"thereto. Thus, nut member 12 comprises an elongated body internallythreaded as indicated at 13 and having a neck portion 14' fitted withina slot 15 in top wall portion 8 extending lengthwise thereof. The widthof slot 15 is slightly greater than that of neck 14, whereby anchor nut12 is permitted substantially only lengthwise movement relative to itsbase member.

bolt, and marginal reinforcements along the end tab and intermediateportions, the marginal reinforcements-being interruptedat points.therealongto' minimize heat transfer toz the end tabportions. i

fI he -foregoing and .other objects, advantages, and chara'eterizingfeaturesofflatfloating anchorflnut device con- 1 stir-acted in'accordwith the instant invention willbeeome elgarly; apparent fromthe .ensuingdetailed description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof, takentogether with the accompanying drawing illustrating .such embodimentandforming a part hereof wherein like referease numerals-denotelikepartsthroughout thevarious views and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a floating anchor nut device ofthis invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view thereof taken about on line II--IIof Fig. 1;,

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view thereof;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, illustrating the samein use; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view, on a reduced scale, of aninstallation using floating anchor nut devices of the invention.

Referring now to the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing,the floating anchor nut device of the instant invention, generallydesignated 1 is, by virtue of its heat transfer' characteristics, welladapted for use in anchoring insulating sheathing and the like in heatshielding relation to a primary member, although obviously itsusefulness is not limited thereto.

Thus, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the floating anchor nut device ofthis invention is adapted to be connected to an appropriate support 2,which can comprise a primary structure to be heat shielded, and isadapted to anchor appropriate sheathing units 3 in place with relationthereto. For example, units 3 can be held against spacers 4 of heatinsulating material as by retainer plates Anchornut 12 terminates at itsupper end in an annular flange 16 adapted to slide on the top surface ofwall portion 8, and immediately below neck portion 14 anchor nut 12 isprovided with a flange 17 adapted to slide over the bottom surface oftop wall portion Sand with flange 16, to lockanchor nut 12 to top wallportion 8. In this Way, anchor nut 12 is locked to the top wall portion8, while being permitted a floating action enabling lengthwise movementthereof'relative to the base of the anchor-device, inthe directionindicated by arrcnv ayFig. 4, toenableshifting of retainer plate 5 withexpansion and contraction of sheathing unit 3, as indi* cate'd by arrowb.v

Anchor nut 12 is adapted to receive an anchoring bolt 18 threadedlyengaged therein, and it is a feature of the invention that anchor nut 12is held against rotation because its flange 17 is of flat sided formreceived between the marginal flanges 10 of top wall portion 8 and heldthereby against rotation. Thus, when assembling sheathing units 3 inplace they are positioned on the insulating spacers 4 and retainerplates '5 therefor then are secured toanchor devices 1 by simplythreading bolts 18 into the respective anchor nuts 12, which latter canbe inaccessible because they are automatically held against rotation bythe marginal flanges 10' interlocking with flange 17. In this Way, bothassembly and disassembly are facilitated.

To provide a better gripping action, the lower end of anchor nut 12 canbe slotted, as indicated at 19, thereby enabling a clinching action dueto the resilience of the material used in fabricating the anchor nut 12,and it will be noted that the same can be of slightly bulbous form forgreater strength.

In this way, there is provided an anchor nut device facilitatingassembly and disassembly of sheathing units and the like having afloating action enabling shifting between the broken and full linepositions illustrated in Fig. 4, and it is another feature of theinventio'n'that this is provided in a device which is mechanicallystrong and through which the transfer of heat is minimized.

This is accomplished by interrupting the marginal reinforcing flange,comprising flanges 9 and 10, to provide a discontinuity whichexperiments have shown greatly reduces heat transfer through the anchordevice. Mechanical strength is maintained because continuous marginalflanges 9 are provided throughout end tab portions 6 and adjacent sidewall portions 7, reinforcing the same at the juncture therebetween, andby providing the discontinuity adjacent the junctures between side wallportions 7 and top wall portion 8 heat transfer through the anchordevice from units 3 to support 2 is greatly reduced without interferingwith this mechanical reinforce ment. The marginal flanges it? on topwall portion 8 eflectively rein-force this part of the anchor devicebase, and together with the marginal reinforcements 9 provides an anchordevice of more than adequate strength for the intended purpose. Theseinterruptions or discontinuities in the marginal reinforcing flange 9,10 are more effective in reducing heat transfer than would at firstappear, in view of their relative size. Also, heat transfer to thesupport member 2 is further reduced by virtue of the fact that theanchor device has only a line contact therewith along the marginalflanges 9, as distinguished from the contact area which would beprovided if the flat surfaces of end tab portions 6 were not spaced fromthe member 2.

Accordingly, it is seen that this invention fully accomplishes itsintended objects, and while only a single, presently preferredembodiment has been disclosed herein it will be appreciated that theinvention is not intended to be limited thereto.

Having fully disclosed and completely described our invention, togetherwith its mode of operation, what we claim as new is:

A floating anchor nut device comprising a base member including a pairof tab portions formed at opposite ends thereof, said tab portions beingintegral with an intermediate raised spacer portion comprising side wallportions extending substantially normally to said tab portions and a topWall portion extending between said side wall portions substantiallynormally to said side wall portions, means for attaching said tabportions to a support, said top wall portion having an elongated slotformed therethrough and extending longitudinally of said base member,and a floating anchor nut supported by said top Wall portion, saidancho'r nut com prising an elongated body having an internally threadedopening formed longitudinally therethrough, said anchor nut including aneck portion fittedwithinsaid slot and being of slightly less lateraldimension than said slot to permit lengthwise movement of the anchor nutrelative to the base member, said anchor nut including a first laterallyextending annular flange adjacent the upper end thereof, said firstannular flange having a lateral dimension greater than that of said slotwhereby said first annular flange is slidably supported on the uppersurface of said top wall portion, said anchor nut including a secondflange spaced from said first flange by a distance substantially equalto the thickness of said top wall portion, said top wall portionadjacent said slot being slidably received in the space between saidflanges with the upper surface of said second flange being in slidableengagement with the bottom surface of the top wall portion therebylocking the anchor nut to the top wall portion, said second flangeincluding flat edge portions, said top wall portion including dependingintegral flanges formed along the opposite lateral edges thereof, theflat edgeportions of said second flange being dispo'sed closely adjacentthe inner surfaces of 'the depending flanges formed on the top wallportion to thereby prevent rotation of said anchor nut with respect tosaid base member, each of said end tab portions including dependingintegral flanges formed along the marginal edges thereof and adapted toengage a support member for spacing the base member from a supportmember, said last-mentioned flanges extending continuously along saidend tab portions and around the juncture between said end tab portionsand said side wall portions and extending upwardly along a partialportion of said side wall portions, the flanges on said top Wallportions and said last-mentioned flanges being spaced a substantialdistance. from one another adjacent the junctures between said side wallportions and said top wall portions to provide maximum mechanicalstrength and to minimize the transfer of heat from the anchor nutportion to an associated support member.

References Cited in the file of this'patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

